On average, electricity prices (all taxes included) for households¹ in the EU25 rose by 4.6% between January 2005 and January 2006, while prices (excluding VAT) for industry¹ increased by 15.5% over the same period. Over a longer time period, household and industrial electricity prices in the EU15 rose in total by 9% and 31% respectively between January 2000 and January 2006.

Eurozone countries in blue

Ireland has the third highest prices for industrial users and sixth highest for consumers. Irish household prices are 46% higher than UK

Price changes between January 2005 and January 2006 varied significantly between Member States. For households, the largest price rises were observed in Cyprus (+31.4%), Malta (+23.3%) and the United Kingdom (+14.2%), while prices remained stable in Latvia and Lithuania and fell in Belgium (-2.6%) and Austria (-5.2%).

Prices for industry increased by more than a quarter between January 2005 and January 2006 in Cyprus (+38.4%), the United Kingdom (+36.2%), Sweden (+30.5%) and Belgium (+25.0%), while prices remained stable in France, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta and fell in Finland (-1.7%) and Slovakia (-18.8%).

These figures are published² by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union.

Across the EU25, electricity prices in euro varied by one to three for households and for industry

In absolute values, household electricity prices were highest in January 2006 in Denmark (23.62 euro per 100 kWh), followed by Italy (21.08), the Netherlands (20.87) and Germany (18.32). The lowest prices were observed in Greece (7.01), Lithuania (7.18), Estonia (7.31) and Latvia (8.29).

When adjusted for purchasing power, household electricity prices in Greece (8.01 PPS³ per 100 kWh) remained the cheapest, followed by the United Kingdom (9.05), Finland (9.38) and France (10.92), while the highest prices were recorded in Slovakia (24.48), Italy (20.23), Poland (20.05) and the Netherlands (19.15).

The share of taxation in household electricity prices varied greatly between Member States, ranging from around 5% in Malta, the United Kingdom and Portugal to more than 40% in Denmark (58%) and the Netherlands (42%).

Industrial electricity prices were highest in Italy (12.08 euro per 100 kWh), Cyprus (11.36) and Ireland (10.11), and lowest in the Baltic Member States, Latvia (4.09), Lithuania (4.98) and Estonia (5.11).

However, when adjusted for purchasing power, Hungary (12.13 PPS per 100 kWh) and Cyprus (11.92) recorded the highest industrial electricity prices, and Finland (4.90) and Sweden (4.98) the lowest.

Electricity prices per 100 kWh, incl. all taxes, for standard household consumer 3 500 kWh/year

Electricity prices per 100 kWh, excl. VAT, for standard industrial consumer 2 000 MWh/year

1. The final price charged to electricity customers will depend on the structure of electricity tariffs and contracts which normally contain a number of factors, including fixed charges and unit prices that vary according to the amount of electricity and the time of day it is consumed, as well as, for industrial consumers, the maximum demand required and the degree of interruptibility written into the supply contract.

The household prices presented here are based on a household consuming 3 500 kWh of electricity annually, of which
1 300 kWh at night.

The industrial prices presented here are based on a medium sized industrial consumer on a non-interruptible contract with a maximum demand of 500 kW and using 2 000 MWh of electricity annually. Prices for industry include taxes except value-added tax (VAT), as this is deductible for industry in many countries.

These prices are weighted by national household and industrial electricity consumption respectively to give the EU averages.

Percentage changes in prices at Member State level are based on prices in national currencies, while comparisons between countries are based on prices in euros, converted at the exchange rates of January 2006.

2. Eurostat, Statistics in Focus, Environment and Energy, 11/2006 "Electricity prices for EU households and industrial consumers on 1 January 2006" which is available free of charge in PDF format on the Eurostat website.

3. The Purchasing Power Standard (PPS) is an artificial common reference currency unit that eliminates price level differences between countries. Thus one PPS buys the same volume of goods/services in all countries.